Lionheart of the North
by ChibiRussia
Summary: Arthur Kirkland, England, has taken it as his mission to fulfill the late queen's dying wish, though some might think it is something unusual. Arthur gathers his crew and sets sails, not knowing that they will be caught in a terrible storm, and ends up in a strange land. Rated M for future chapters, just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**"We're** going to sink for sure! I said it would be a bad idea to come here, captain!" Brian shouted over the sounds of the raging storm. The big rain drops came down so hard that they felt like little daggers against their skin.

"I know you did, but I don't care! The queen herself ordered us to do this! Besides, there's no turning back now!"

"To hell with the queen's orders!" Brian snapped at his captain.  
"She's been dead for a while now, so they don't matter! We've already lost three men to this storm, and I don't want to lose the rest of them!"

"You say that again about the queen and I'll throw you overboard myself!" the captain, Arthur Kirkland, shouted, reaching for his hat, to make sure it wouldn't fly away, before he remembered that the wind had already taken it away. His short, dirty blond locks were now wet, making them stick to his scalp, forehead and neck, instead of being their messy selves.

"Go right ahead! I might actually have better chances of surviving like that!" Brian shouted back. Of course, he wasn't telling the truth. He wouldn't have better chances of surviving if he jumped to the water. There were a lot of rocks which could easily crack his skull open if a current or a wave would make him hit them hard enough. He was just so frustrated because of the situation they were in, that he didn't really think before speaking.

"Why you…!" The captain turned his emerald eyes upwards as he heard a loud crack from the direction of the main mast, which he was standing right next to, taking support from it. The mast had broken in half, and the top part of it fell down to the deck, right between Arthur and Brian.

"Brian! Are you alright, lad?" Arthur shouted when he couldn't see the other. There was no answer, just rain and wind, so he got worried and moved closer to the fallen top half of the mast. He had fallen to the sitting on the deck, so he crawled.  
When he reached the fallen mast, he struggled to get up. He tried to take support from the mast, but it was hard since the large piece of wood was shaped round.

The moment he was almost standing well enough, the ship hit some of the sharp rocks that just had to be there to make everything even more difficult than it already was.  
Because of the impact, the captain fell again and in a way rolled almost all the way to the right side railing of the ship. He moved closer to the railing and took support from it as he tried getting up again. That was maybe a bad choice, because next another impacts made him fall overboard to the water.

Arthur had his eyes tightly squeezed shut as his back hit the water and he sank under the surface. In the water, he opened his eyes and saw how his dear ship was slowly sinking deeper into the dark void of the water. He would most likely never sail with her again. Not unless some sort of miracle would happen, which would not, since this world was so cruel to him today. He was out of miracles.

Even though there was a raging storm above, beneath it was weirdly calm. Everything was moving slowly and it was also very dark, which was pulling Arthur into a lulling sleep. However, he was wide awake, and swam to the surface, taking air into his lungs before coughing couple of times.

It didn't take long before a wave pulled the Brit back under the surface. He got up again, and this time found a piece of wood, a little piece of his ship, and pulled his upper body to be on it. Then another wave came. The captain and the plank of wood were sent towards rocks, making the man hit the back of his head against them.  
It was a wonder how he managed to stay on the piece of wood as he almost became unconscious.

The storm started to calm down, and then went away as quickly as it came. Arthur didn't register this as he slowly sailed towards land. Wait, land? The Brit lifted his head slightly, making his head hurt more than it already did, and he saw the land which was barely visible in the darkness. It was such a welcoming sight, even though Arthur loved the sea more. As he was slowly drawn to the unknown land of unconsciousness, he could see lights. They looked like torch lights. So there are people?

His eyesight started to get really blurry, and all of the voices and sounds seemed more distant than they really were. It was like a wall was placed between the captain and the sources of the sounds. He moved his head to be against the wooden plank, and he was closing his eyes as he heard something swimming towards him. Arthur tried to keep his eyes open, wanting to see who or what it was, but all he saw was a glance of blond hair, lighter colour than his own.

His mind went into the darkness for couple of seconds, or minutes because next time he opened his eyes he was on land and saw figures standing around him.

"Kato, se elää viäl! (Look, he's still alive!)" a child's voice said, but Arthur could not understand it. It was a strange language to him. He moved his head to the side so he could see the sea. He now realized that there was no storm anymore.

"Tapetaa se enneko se herää kunnol. (Let's kill him before he wakes up properly.)" Now a male was talking, also using that same strange language. Arthur was lost to the darkness again for a few seconds before a third voice joined.

"Ei. Viedää se kotikylää. Haluun tietää mistä ne tänne tuli. (No. Let's take him to our home village. I want to know where they came from.)" The voice sounded younger than the one before it. Arthur tried to ask who they were, but couldn't get a single word out of his mouth. Then everything went black.

**"Millokoha** se herää? (When do you think he wakes up?)"

"En mie vaa tiiä. Se o nukkunu jo viis päivää. Mahtaakoha se herät ollenkaa? (I don't know. He has been sleeping for five days already. Do you think he's going to wake up at all?)"

"Kyl se varmaa. Mattiki nukku kerra yli viiko, muistaks? (I think so. Matti slept for over a week once, remember?)"

"Ai nii. Nii nukkuki… Mist luulet et se o tullu? Se näyttääkin nii erilaiselt… (Oh yeah. He did… Where do you think he came from? He looks so different…)"

"Tino san et se o voinu tul jostai vähä etelämpää. Jostai vähä eteläisemmäst maast siis. Mut ei kumminkaa kauhee eteläisest. Sil kumminki o nii valee iho. (Tino said that he could have come from somewhere more south. From a more southern country I mean. But not too southern. He still has such a pale skin.)"

"Sanoks se sillai? (Did he say that?)"

"Joo. En valehtel. (Yeah. I'm not lying.)"

"… Mitä luulet, mist se o saanu nää? (… Where do you think he got these from?)"

This little conversation was which Arthur woke up to. He slowly blinked his eyes open, only to see faces of two boys that were looking at him, and one of them had their hand at his earrings. There was a moment of silence as the boys and Arthur looked at each other. The boys were maybe about six or seven years old, and both of them had blond hair and blue eyes. The boys had also somewhat round cheeks and small, cute noses. They looked like twins.

After this short staring contest the boys suddenly ran away from the room where Arthur was in, one of them yelling: "Iskä! Se heräs! (Dad! He woke up!)"

* * *

AN: Another fanfic that has been bothering my mind quite a while now. I actually hesitated publishing this because I am not completely sure where this is going, but I guess that how many things work. And I know, it's short, but that's what you'll get for now. Hopefully you can enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

Blinking in confusion, Arthur watched as the two boys ran out of the room that he had seemingly been sleeping in. Who are those boys? Why were they watching him sleep? And what language were they using? Many questions filled Arthur's mind, and even more came along as he noticed that he was tied to the bed he was lying on. He had tried to get up and move his hands, but his hands were tied to the sides of the bed, his feet to the end of the bed, and his torso was tied to bed as well. He didn't have all of his clothes on either. Right now he was wearing just a pair of black pants. Well, at least he had a blanket on him. He was quite sure he could easily get free, because he was a country and so had more physical strength than humans, but he wasn't sure if that was a good idea. Whoever was keeping him here, might even try to attack him if they saw him free, plus he didn't know where he was. So he thought it was best to play it safe for now.

The Brit turned his head to look back at the door when he heard heavy footsteps coming his way. Soon there was a man standing there, looking at Arthur with a slight frown on his face. His skin was a bit tanned, he probably worked a lot outside, and his head almost reached the ceiling. The room wasn't very high to begin with, but the man was surely at least a head taller than Arthur. He had a strong square jaw and he had built a lot of muscle during his life, more than an average person. His eyes were blue and his hair was blond, slightly lighter colour than Arthur's hair, and it almost looked like it hadn't been brushed for days. The strong looking man was wearing a simple white shirt with a wide neckline and sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and also black pants and leather boots that reached half way up his calf.

The man took a step closer to Arthur but then stopped and turned as if he had heard someone. He started speaking in a deep voice, sounding calm at first but then his voice became annoyed and it sounded like he was arguing about something. It didn't take long before his shoulders slumped and he let out a sigh of defeat, and then turned towards the Brit again. Arthur had tried to move enough to see if the man had been talking to someone but wasn't successful, and he stopped moving once the man was looking at him again. What was he going to do? The blue eyed man walked to the bed, to Arthur, and then kneeled to one knee before pulling the blanket down enough so he could start taking off the ropes from around his torso and hands. While he did this, he grumbled something under his breath. It seemed as if the taller didn't want to let Arthur go like this but was forced to by someone.

When he moved on to untie Arthur's feet, the Brit was able to see an old woman standing by the door. She was short and didn't look exactly friendly. Her eyes were small and so squinted you couldn't almost see the brown colour of her irises. Her white shirt and dark blue long skirt were decorated with a lot of handmade red embroidery, and she was wearing a lot of golden ear rings and two necklaces which made sounds as she walked further into the room, a golden crow and a bear missing each other just barely. Otherwise the woman seemed rather ordinary. She didn't have a fancy or important looking hairpiece or hat, and her clothes looked a bit too big for her, but she walked with pride and confidence. Even though her body looked frail and her back wasn't straight like it surely used to be in her youth, the old woman had power that she carried with her in her presence and soul.

Arthur slowly sat up and kept his eyes on the old woman as she walked closer to him, and then stopped right beside the bed. The two looked at each other for a moment before she turned to the larger man and said something to him. Her voice was quiet, and Arthur was sure he wouldn't have heard it unless she wouldn't be standing right next to him and the bed. Again, the man seemed to disagree with her but then slumped his shoulders again as she seemed to say the same thing again with a stern voice. Defeated once again, the larger man left the room. Once the man had left the room, the woman turned back to Arthur. The Brit didn't know what to think of this. What did the woman want? What was she going to do?

A moment went by, and another, before the old woman reached into one of her skirt's pockets, which there were two, and took out a small pouch closed with red string. She opened the pouch and emptied it on her hand. What was inside the pouch was normal looking sand. The Brit frowned slightly as he saw it and looked up at the woman's face to find that she had closed her eyes and seemed to be concentrating. He didn't almost notice it, but her lips were moving a bit, forming quick words that he couldn't hear and probably wouldn't understand either. She then opened her eyes and took a deep breath, and blew gently on the sand. Instead of the sand falling down to the floor from her hand or going straight to Arthur's face, it slowly went up and formed a small cloud above her hand. Arthur's eyes widened as the sand started to take form into something else; a deer with so big horns that it was a wonder how it could keep its head still up. The deer made of sand was still small, small enough to fit in the old woman's palm, and it looked up at Arthur as it took a small step towards him. England reached out slowly with his hand without him realizing it. His fingertips were probably less than a centimetre away from the deer when the woman suddenly slapped her free hand on top the other, making the deer disappear in the process. As if woken up from a trance of some sort, Arthur quickly moved back a bit at the sudden sound and pulled his hand back. 'What was that?' the Brit thought. 'Can she use magic?'

Then suddenly the woman's hands were on his head, in his hair, moving her hands roughly enough so it hurt a bit. "Ow!" Arthur complained but didn't really do anything to stop her. He thought he might accidentally hurt her, and he didn't know what would happen if he would try to stop her. When she seemed pleased, she gave Arthur's head a rough pat with both of her hands and backed away before walking to the door and leaving the room. "Ow... That hurt." the Brit complained again, now just to himself and he ran his hand through his own hair to feel it. To his surprise he couldn't feel anything out of the ordinary, even though he was sure the woman had rubbed the sand into his hair. That was odd. What kind of sand was it?

Not long after the old woman had left the room, another woman came in with a white shirt and a pair of black boots in her hands. This woman was much younger, maybe in her thirties, and her clothes didn't have any sort of decorations. She wasn't wearing any sort of jewellery either, and her brown hair was almost completely covered with a red triangle shaped scarf. It was most likely to keep her hair out of the way while working. She didn't look friendly either, with her stern expression, as she walked to Arthur and offered the shirt and boots to him. The Brit carefully took them and nodded as thanks, and then watched as she walked back to the doorway. But she then stopped there and folded her arms on her chest, looking at Arthur, as if waiting. Was she waiting for him? Realizing that that might be the case, Arthur put the boots on the floor and stood up. He put on the shirt, which was slightly too big for him, and then the boots.

Once he was done, Arthur looked at the woman and she nodded in approval before moving her head to the side in a way that told Arthur to follow her. And so he did. He followed her out of the room and it gave him a chance to see what kind of house he was in. It wasn't big; it only had two rooms including the one Arthur had been in. In the other room there seemed to be a small kitchen with a dining table of sorts and also a small bed for a child. The pair walked to what seemed to be the front door and the woman opened it so they could go outside, where a big group of people was waiting for them. There were women, men and children of different ages, all dressed in the same simple manner. The only two more special looking people were the old woman from before and the younger one he had walked out with. No other woman or man had any embroidery or anything red in their outfit. So maybe these two women were somehow special, and maybe even in a leading role.

The woman with the red scarf on her head placed her hands on Arthur's shoulders and led him to stand on one of the steps that led to the door, making him stand there while the older woman walked to be almost right behind him. When he was let go by the younger, the older put her hand on England's right shoulder and started speaking. Her voice was still quiet though, so the younger one said the same things again in a louder voice so everyone could hear. It surprised Arthur a bit how strong the woman's voice was, and how far it seemed to be able to carry. The Brit looked at the crowd, and there were some disapproving looks and grunts, and he definitely didn't miss the glare he was given by the man that had untied him. These people really didn't seem to like outsiders.


End file.
